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Sending your poems out can be daunting. Some return like boomerangs; others are snaffled like truffles. And sometimes the boomerangs don’t come back, which goes to show right place, right time.

A good source of submission calls is Submittable’s weekly newsletter, Submishmash, which lists creative opportunities for anthologies, competitions or just general intake, aswell as residencies and fellowships. I’ve discovered quite a few publications in this – Coffin Bell, a journal with a focus on dark literature and District Lit, an online magazine seeking themed work, both based in the US.

Facebook is another great place to find out who’s looking for what, particularly being a member of writing groups. I’m in the Adelaide Poetry Gig Guide and Writers South Australia to name a couple, and recently found a host of publications seeking disability-related work thanks to one of the posts, so intend to submit some endometriosis poems.

Like most writers, I keep track of my submissions on a spreadsheet. Inevitably the declines outweigh the acceptances, but it’s a wonderful way to track your work and more importantly, to ensure that poems rejected by one place are not resent to them!